I was told in mid February that I'd be traveling to Yokohama for work at the end of February. It ended up being four days of 12-14 hours of work each, but occasionally, I had some time to break away from the chaos of the show.

But, disappointingly, I never did manage to find the elusive beer vending machines. Next time.

One of my favorite parts of the new gig involves sample galleries. Go out with a piece of new gear. See what it does. Try to make interesting pictures while showing its virtues and shortcomings. Sounds fun. Is fun.

Here's one that'll stay with me a while. During my time at PSE, social media magician Abbey was a consistent source of friendship, camaraderie, and overall goofiness. Her fiancee Steve, whom I've met on a number of occasions, is basically just one hell of a guy. These two will go far. Their date is set for 2016 and I couldn't be happier for them.

For the gear-minded, everything was shot on a D700 with a variety of ancient AF-D lenses attached.

Because I am a masochist, I've actually been thoroughly enjoying our deluge here in Seattle. But I will confess that I've been guilty of a few sun-soaked daydreams over the past couple days. My last shoot for Puget Sound Energy took place on a September afternoon at 192 Brewing in Kenmore, a wonderful combination of hot weather, cold beer and good company. So while ultimately it's these sorts days that we all go through the long, dark winter for, I do still try to enjoy the long, dark winter anyway.

Not much really to say here. Utilizing a Pentax because it's supposed to be rainy as hell for the next few days / weeks / months, and this thing is supposed to be weatherproof enough to be run under a faucet. I didn't try that, but I did have a run in with the International Fountain. More TK.

Alright, you have a few days off between leaving your old job for a new one. What do you do? Play non-stop video games? Take off for a couple of nights at an ocean-side resort? Finally tackle that big project you've been meaning to start? Those are all great ideas.

I didn't do any of those, because I'm weird. I went camping alone in Olympic National Park. Phone off. Sleeping in the back of my truck. Trying to camp.

Although I mainly did this for self-reflection (success) and hoping for an epiphany about the meaning of life (fail), in reality, it was mostly a reminder of what a terrible outdoorsman I am. Here are some of the more frivolous notions that came to me over the course of my trip.

I do not know how to start a fire.

I did not realize sleeping bags are rated for a reason.

I did not realize that the new 0-degree rated sleeping bag I purchased was only 64" long. I am not 5'4".

I did not take into account camping at 5,400' will be colder than sea level.

Camping 45 minutes off the main road in the absolute wilderness, a wilderness full of cougars and bears and aggressive raccoons, does, in fact, make me afraid of the dark. And, therefore, also afraid of peeing in the night.

Most restaurants in Forks have a "Twilight" menu. One hotel had a "Twilight" room. I saw photo proof.

I felt really rugged in my truck, going 16 miles on a rough, rutted logging road to the campsite. My neighbor had a 90's Civic. I didn't feel very rugged after that.

Bees can sting you in the middle of the night. They'll find you. And sting you.

A rubber mallet and a screwdriver make an adequate substitute for a hatchet.

And of course, I encountered some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen.

So, no, I didn't have an epiphany about the meaning of life. But it was a little adventure. And, truth be told, I re-learned some things about myself I had forgotten. So that was worth it.

Today marks the end of my third Sasquatch! experience, and as usual, ish was weird. But there were also some constants from previous years that carried over: I shot almost no music, it's visually overwhelming, and I had an absolute blast. The colors are ludicrous and the light is almost always good.

Needless to say, the experiences differed a bit, though I can never help but dance when I'm photographing a reception. I'm sure it looks goofy, jamming to a beat with ten pounds of camera gear sailing about, but I never let the idea of looking goofy get in the way of having a great time.

Alex and Sami are going to make great partners in this thing we call life, and being a part of their most special of days was an honor. Enjoy the gallery!

In the Fall of last year, a coworker flew to the east coast to get married. So what do you do with all your friends back in Seattle? Have a massive party for them, of course. And what if those friends happen to be a bunch of local musicians? Well, guess you don't need a DJ.

Mandy approached me about shooting this reception party at The Piranha Shop, an event space in SoDo near the stadiums. It was dark darkdark, but fun funfun. The newlywed bride has an aversion to being photographed herself (there's a great one of her flipping me off), but I had a great time shooting this half-event, half-concert, all-party extravaganza.

Come on in

Food Truck

Private, Cajun food truck. If they'd had nothing else, that would have been enough.

It's basically spring. Seattle is stupid warm. Thanks to Uncle Sam and a tax return, I picked up a new lens that bears the unfortunate distinction of being referred to by the Nikon faithful as the "cream machine." Here's a few random photos from the last couple weeks.

So. Looks like this "weekly blog post" thing is proving more difficult to keep track of than I thought. Also, I usually want nothing more when I get home in the evenings to shut off digital connections to the outside world, which never helps. But this is a common sentiment these days.

Anywho, my dad and I spent a night in Gig Harbor and basically wandered around shooting photographs for a couple of days while taking in the local atmosphere. It's not as stinky in Tacoma as it used to be.

I took my Fuji X100 and pretty much left it in a low-contrast black-and-white mode for more toning latitude later.

Happy Hour

I cheated. Took this at Bake's Place in Bellevue.

LeMay Reflections

A very shiny car and a very sunny day behind me.

Pierce

Pierce Arrow car in Pierce County. Seems appropro.

Kayaking Gig Harbor

It was sunny, but definitely too cold to venture into the water with these kayakers.

Yachting

A boat under restoration in Gig Harbor.

BNSF Mirror

Might have trespassed about six inches through an open fence for this.

Inside-outside

A weird line of business exteriors and storefronts that were...inside?

Globe over Rainier

Framed a huge statue of the World over Mount Rainier on the Tacoma waterfront.